Watching “The Mentalist” Being Filmed – A Second Time!

This past Tuesday morning I was interviewed about my website for an article on filming locations that will be published sometime in early April in a few local, San Gabriel Valley-area newspapers. While we were talking, the reporter happened to mention that she had just spoken with the City of Monrovia’s Film Liaison who had told her that fave show The Mentalist would be filming that very day on Myrtle Avenue in Downtown Monrovia. So, I immediately headed right on over there to do a bit of Simon Baker stalking. As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I do not particularly enjoy stalking alone, so I begged my mom, who lives just up the street from where filming was taking place, to come to the set with me and, thankfully, she agreed. When we arrived, we discovered that producers had built a fake, but very detailed jewelry store set inside of what is, in actuality, a large kitchen appliance store named Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc.

I cannot tell you how fascinating it was to see the fake store, which was named Nesbitt & Company Jewelers, in person. A false rear wall had been built in front of the large appliances that are normally on display in the front windows of the Kitchen & Bath Expo and fake jewelry cases along with fake jewels had been placed in the main area of the store and the effect was incredibly realistic. So realistic, in fact, that one of the people we spoke with who had stopped to watch the filming with us mentioned that she had walked by the storefront the previous morning and thought to herself, ‘Just what the area needs – another jewelry store!’ It was not until she saw the filming trucks the following day that she realized the entire thing was just a set.

Pictured above is what Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc. looks like in real life.

As you can see, set decorators simply covered over the kitchen displays with fake walls. My mom asked one of the crew members why producers had not simply found a real jewelry store to film at, since there are more than a few of them in the area, but he told us that they needed a jewelry store situated next to an alley. When they couldn’t find one that met their needs, they simply decided to create their own. Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

The scene we watched being filmed involved Patrick Jane (aka Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (aka Robin Tunney) pulling up next to the jewelry store in Lisbon’s car and then walking through the alleyway together. The camera was set up directly across the street from the store.

Traffic on Myrtle was shut down only intermittently during the filming and, with the crime scene tape strung across the alley, the flashing lights on the many police cars parked at the scene, and the camera not being readily visible, it must have looked to those driving by as if an actual crime had just taken place.

Simon Baker and Robin Tunney walked out just a few short minutes after we arrived on the set and Simon immediately smiled and waved at the fans standing across the street (there were only about five of us) and then the two of them walked over to the car they were set to be driving in the scene. I was really hoping that Simon would walk over to take pictures with the fans, since there were so few of us, but he never did.

The driving scene was completed in only one take and then Robin and Simon headed into the alleyway to do some more filming. Unfortunately, we could not get very close to the alley so we left shortly after that.

On the way back to my parents’ apartment, I noticed that every single store and restaurant on Myrtle Avenue had a sign offering discounts to the film crew taped to their front windows, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Talk about being a film-friendly city! Love it!

Some filming also took place at Monrovia’s Vertia Salon, which is located right around the corner from the Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc., but unfortunately I arrived after that scene had already been completed.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Kitchen & Bath Expo, Inc., aka the fake jewelry store set from The Mentalist, is located at 415 South Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia. The alleyway where filming took place is located just south of the Expo. Verita Salon is located at 111 East Lime Avenue in Monrovia.

hey! i kind of got a mention. i feel like a celebrity now. thank you for the great interview and all the valuable addresses and input. look for the article to come out april 9 in the pasadena star-news, san gabriel valley news, whittier daily news, inland valley daily bulletin and san bernardino county sun. on april 8 it will be in the redlands daily facts, and it will be on those papers’ websites under the real estate section tab.
so glad you made it down to the filming. love the photos.
t.

My friend was going to a meeting in Monrovia on Tuesday in the afternoon. She noticed alot of trucks and film crew. She was told the Mentalist was filming. She went into a cafe for a late lunch and the cashier mentioned they were filming at a hair salon immediately behind the cafe right then. All of sudden Simon Baker walks by the cafe by himself. He stops at the corner and then other crew follow him. Right behind them Robin Tunney walks much slower texting or looking at her phone the whole time. My friend said what struck her was how nice both Simon’s and Robin’s hair looked particularly Robin’s dark/shiny hair and how tailored there outfits looked more so than on TV. Robin looked taller and Simon looked shorter/thinner than on screen for some reason.

How lucky you got to see some of the filming taking place. By the time I got there they were already filming in the alley way. When I was walking home I managed to spot Owain Yeoman sitting on the stairs of his trailer and didn’t recognize him because he looks leaner in person. I came home and search if ” the menalist” was filming in monrovia and to my luck it was. My disappointment was I didn’t ask him for the picture. So I walked back and I waited but I guess they were busy filming so no one was going to their trailers at all. I think if I have waited longer I could have spotted more of the cast and ask them for a picture. If you would have walk down a block towards the library and back between lemon and lime streets that is where the trailers and all the production trucks were. I hope “the mentalist” films in monrovia again though.